V. I.

Lenin

803

LETTER TO CONSTANTINO LAZZARI AND ASSIGNMENT TO SECRETARY

The Kremlin, Moscow, December 11, 1922

Dear Comrade Lazzari, I thank you very much for the kind greetings you have
sent me through Comrade Maffi, and send you my best wishes.

Unfortunately, because of my illness, [1]

I have not been able to follow your activities since the Third Congress of
the Communist International. There is now the most delicate task to cope with. The congress has decided upon
the merger and it should be promoted to the best of one’s
abilities. [3] I am sure that you will use all your authority
and the enthusiasm of the old devoted revolutionary to achieve the great purpose which we set ourselves, that of
establishing a solid and sincere union of all true revolutionaries.

I count on you especially in case Serrati may create obstacles, even though against his will: the distrust from
the past is so great that he must not only be most loyal
(this goes without saying), but must prove this in every
way. What is more, he must especially find all possible
methods (he is rather adroit and flexible in this) to avoid
giving any pretext for mistrust on the part of the
Communists. Unfortunately, my illness has prevented me from
saying this personally to
Serrati. [2]

Best regards, wishing you good health, [4]

Lenin

To Fotieva or the secretary on duty

Please retype, correcting my French, and return to me.

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Notes:
[1]
The words “Unfortunately, because of my illness” are in
Lenin’s hand.— Ed.

[2]
This paragraph is in Lenin’s hand.— Ed.

[3]
A reference to the resolution of the Fourth Congress of the
Comintern (held from November 5 to December 5, 1922) on the
Italian question providing for the merger of the Communist
and Socialist Parties of Italy (see Kommunistichesky Internatsional v dokumentakh. Resheniya, tezisy i vozzvaniya kongressov Kominterna i plenumov IKKI. 1919–1932. Moscow, 1938, pp. 356–60).

At the time, the merger did not take place. In 1924, some groups
of socialists which had formed the Left wing of the Italian
Socialist Party broke with it and entered the Communist Party (see
this volume, Document 794).

[4]
On January 2, 1923, C. Lazzari sent Lenin a reply letter
thanking him for the trust placed in him and promising to do
everything he could to implement the decisions of the Fourth Congress
of the Comintern. However, he objected to the outlined methods
for merging the parties and, referring to the services of the
Italian Socialist Party, suggested that the unified party should
have the old name—Italian Socialist Party (Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U. Central
Committee).